


Requiem

by Kitkat12323



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 03:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3634953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitkat12323/pseuds/Kitkat12323
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes we forget about the times we were carefree. It may take a bit to remember those times as we make new memories, but we never truly forget. We cherish those memories by giving a requiem to those long ago times. It may even be in the form of a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Requiem

**Author's Note:**

> A one-shot fic for the Gou All Out week challenge. Originally posted on my tumblr account its-chras-not-cas.

**Requiem**

**Summary:** Sometimes we forget about the times we were carefree. It may take a bit to remember those times as we make new memories, but we never truly forget. We cherish those memories by giving a requiem to those long ago times. It may even be in the form of a dream.

**A one-shot fic for the Gou All Out week challenge. It was a bit hard but I found the challenge fun. I picked two prompts and combined the two into one fic. This takes place roughly after season 1 but before season 2 of the anime.  
**

**Prompts:** babysitting, dream

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Free!  
**

* * *

Gou woke up to loud sound that was not her alarm clock. Sitting up in bed she listened. Again she heard something fall with a loud thud. She swallowed nervously wondering if it was perhaps her mother, but she knew her mother would never make that much noise. Looking at the time, it was only eight in the morning on a weekend.

Climbing out of bed, she tiptoed to her door and peeked out. There was a light on downstairs in the kitchen. Her mother’s room still had the door closed, which meant she was still asleep. There was no one else in the house besides the two of them.

Trying to find her courage, Gou made her way down the stairs. She crept towards the kitchen and saw the fridge open. Whoever was in the fridge was making a mess, as there was food on the floor. She could hear them grunting in frustration. She moved slowly over to the fridge before pulling the door open.

“Huh?!” She stared at the intruder and nearly fell over. There stood her older brother but he looked like he was only eight years old.

He looked up at her and scowled. “You scared me!”

She blinked twice before slapping her cheek. “Owww….” She was definitely awake.

Rin stared at her confused. “Why’d you hit yourself, nee-san?”

“N-nee-san?! R-Rin!?” Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to find the right words.

The boy nodded. “You’re acting weird, Gou-nee-san. I’m hungry.”

He was looking at her expectantly. The maroon haired girl had no idea what to do. She just looked down at him. It was like looking at a photo of Rin when he was younger. He still had his little scowl, but his eyes still held the wonder of a young boy. Gou felt her heart give a tug as she remembered how her brother was always happy until he went to Australia. When he had finally come back, he had been distant from her and their mother. Now that Rin was friends once again with his old swim mates, he smiled more and didn’t look as forlorn as before.

She felt a tug on the hem of her sleeping shorts. “Nee-san, I want to eat something.” Sighing, she wondered if this was just some weird dream despite not waking up after smacking herself.

“O-okay…let me just get momma up,” she said and quickly ran back upstairs. In her haste she nearly tripped up the stairs. She knocked urgently on her mother’s door. The door opened to reveal a sleepy looking woman.

“Gou…it’s too early to be up. What time is it?” The woman yawned.

Gou grabbed her mother’s wrist. “Come down stairs, momma. You have to see this!”

The older woman had no time to protest as her daughter dragged her down the stairs. Gou rushed down to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway. Her mother was breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath. The younger Rin was still standing in the kitchen.

“See!” Gou pointed at him.

Her mother looked at the scene with shock. “What is going on?!”

The girl nodded. “That’s what I would like to know. I woke up to someone making noise downstairs and came down. I saw Rin going through the fridge except he got-”

“Rin, if you want to eat, get me up first! Don’t make a mess of the kitchen,” her mother said and sighed in exasperation.

Gou’s mouth fell open. “Eh!!!” Why wasn’t her mother freaking out about the little version of Rin? She was acting as if nothing was different.

She watched in disbelief as her mother started to pick up the mess Rin had made. Their mother continued to fret over Rin and the mess. She didn’t even seem bothered that her eldest son had reverted to his younger years.

“Gou, can you take Rin upstairs for a bath?” her mother asked.

The teen just stared at her. “B-b-but he…age…w-w-why-”

Her mother gave her a stern look. “Please, Gou, just help me out. Rin has food all over him and he needs a bath. Just run the warm water and let him clean up. I’ll have some food ready in a bit.”

She ushered Rin out of the kitchen. Gou mechanically led the boy up the stairs to the bath. She filled the tub with warm water before leaving him to his bath. Slowly walking to her room, she shut the door and fell face first onto her bed. She didn’t move for a while until she flopped over so that she was looking at the ceiling.

“What just happened?”

**——**

“Gou! Rin! Come down to eat now!” Her mother called from the kitchen.

The teen could hear small feet padding their way down the stairs. “Hurry up, nee-san!” Rin shouted.

Gou had spent the time trying to figure out what was going on. She hadn’t come up with anything plausible. It was as if her brother had become his younger self and no one knew the difference. She had looked through her photo albums to find that all the pictures showed a young Rin rather than her big brother. In all those photos she was the older one rather than the other way around.

“Gou?!”

She got off the bed. “Coming!”

She quickly made her way down the stairs. Her brother was already seated and her mother was putting the food on the table. She sat down in her place across from her brother. She couldn’t help but stare at him.

Having felt her eyes, he looked up. “What?”

She quickly looked down at her plate. “N-nothing!” She shoved food into her mouth. “T-this is really good!”

Rin shrugged and went back to eating his meal. Gou kept glancing at him as she tried to put everything together. He looked just like she remembered when they were little. It was like looking at an old picture of Rin.

“Gou, sweetie, remember you promised to look after Rin and his friends,” her mother suddenly said.

“I did?” She looked at the older woman in confusion.

Her mother sighed. “Yes, you did. I have to go and pick up some things. Rin’s friends should be here in an hour or so.”

The maroon haired female just nodded. She had no idea who Rin’s friends were. She had never babysat anyone before. Rin had always been the one to look after her, as he was the oldest. Even though Rin was older, they both didn’t really need to be watched over. Gou never caused any problems when they were younger.

Rin was grinning widely. “Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa are coming to play. We want to go to the pool later, nee-san!”

She just nodded absent-mindedly. “Sure.” She was off in her own world.

The boy nodded enthusiastically. “Nagisa said they have a new friend to bring along. I just hope he isn’t a crybaby.”

Rin’s previous statement finally sunk in. Her eyes widened as she realized something. “Eh! They’re little too?!”

**——**

Gou stared down at four child versions of the Iwatobi swim team. Makoto’s parents had dropped them all off. She hadn’t even had time to call to the parents before they sped off. Rin had seemed excited to see them and immediately took them into the kitchen. She had stood at the open door for a bit before finally closing the door and following them in.

Four pair of eyes looked up at her. Rin had run up to his room. “H-hello…” Gou greeted uncertainly.

“Gou-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed before wrapping his little arms around her legs.

The maroon haired girl managed to pry him off her. “It’s Kou!”

“Gou!”

“Kou!”

“Gou!”

“Kou!”

“Kou!”

“GOU!” She cried and then stopped as she realized she had been tricked again but this time by a seven year old.

Nagisa laughed and smiled sweetly at her. “Okay, I’ll call you Gou.”

She sighed and hung her head in defeat. No matter what she told Nagisa, he would always call her by her real name. It seemed that even a younger version of the blond would only use her given name instead of what she wanted to be called. There was no getting him to change his mind even when reduced to a child.

Rin came running back down with a grin and holding a bag. “Come on, let’s go outside.”

They kids followed him and Gou did as well as she was curious to see what they were up to. It was her job to watch after them. They were still little kids and she had to make sure they were safe. In the back yard, Rin dumped the contents of the bag on the grass. She could see that they were water balloon making kits.

“Are you going to make water balloons?” she asked.

Rin nodded. “Yeah! We’re going to have a water balloon fight. This is the only game Haruka would want to play.” He snickered and looked to the dark haired boy.

Looking at Haruka, Gou saw that he looked as passive as ever. “Are you sure about that Oni-uh Rin?”

Her brother nodded before running to their shed and pulling out two buckets. “We need to split up and fill the balloons with water. We can use the hose and the bath. Nagisa, Rei and I will work out here. Haruka and Makoto will work in the bath.” Gou smiled a bit at her brother’s bossy tone.

Rin looked up at her. “Can you help too, nee-san?”

How could she refuse when he looked at her like that? “Okay. I’ll help Makoto-sen…um Makoto and Haruka.”

The boys and her grabbed a few water balloon packets and the bucket. She led the two boys inside the house and to the bath. There was a stool near the sink that either boy could use to reach the faucet. Gou set the kits down on the floor. She put some towels on the ground just in case it got messy.

“Okay, Haru-chan, let’s make as many balloons as we can,” Makoto said enthusiastically. The dark haired boy just nodded mutely before heading over to the tub.

Gou was reading the instructions when she heard Makoto cry out in alarm. “H-Haru! You can’t strip and getting into someone else’s tub!”

Looking up, she saw that he had indeed stripped. He was, of course, wearing his swim trunks. He had one foot in the empty tub and one foot out while Makoto tried to pull him out by his arm. Putting the kit down she came over to the two. Some things would never change despite what age a person was.

“Haruka-sen…Haruka-san, you can be in the tub, but you have to help fill balloons still,” Gou compromised.

He looked at her before nodding. “Okay.”

Makoto reluctantly let him go and went back to the sink. Haruka immediately turned the water on and sat back. A serene expression came to his face as the water started filling up the tub. Gou placed an open packet next to the tub for Haruka. She made her way next to Makoto and they started to fill balloons.

After a while of silence, Gou finally spoke up. “Um, Makoto-se…Makoto-san, how have you been?”

He was concentrating on filling up the balloon. “I’m good, Gou-san. I saw a cat today.”

She listened as he talked about the cat he saw in his backyard. A younger Makoto was still very sweet if not a bit more enthusiastic. His passion for cute cats was still there and he still had the kind smile whenever he was talking or thinking about something he enjoyed.

She glanced at Haruka from her peripheral vision. The boy was leaning back against the tub with the water under his nose. He was slowly filling up water balloons with the little water squirt bottle that came with the kit.

“In other words, he’s taking his time,” she thought with a slight eye twitch.

They had managed to fill all the water balloons with the next two hours. The floor was slightly wet from some of the balloons breaking, but mostly everything had gone well. She shooed the two off to the yard with the bucket. Gou cleaned up the mess and let the water in the tub go down the drain.

She found that she could talk to them like before. “They don’t even seem to notice they have gotten smaller,” she mumbled to herself.

Making her way downstairs, she went into the kitchen to prepare the lunch her mother had pre-made. She could hear them talking outside as she set everything down on the table. After setting up lunch, she went outside.

“Come on guys, time to eat. You can play after,” she called.

The all came in and made their way to the food. After making sure they were all inside, she followed. She paused as she stared at the scene before her. Her brother was talking to Haruka and Makoto. Haruka was looking intently at the mackerel lunch that her mother had especially for him. Makoto was listening intently to what Rin was saying. Nagisa was teasing Rei and the glasses wearing boy pushed up his red frames before commenting back.

A soft smile formed on her face. “Just like always,” she thought to herself.

**——**

“Okay, here are the rules of the water balloon fight. You can move freely around the park, but you can’t go on the playground. Stay away from crowded area because we don’t want to hit anyone who isn’t playing. No tackling each other of any kind. That’s all.” Gou nodded as she went over the ground rules.

They had made their way to the park nearby. Thankfully there weren’t any people around. There were some other kids playing on the playground nearby. They had the open grass, bushes and trees to themselves.

All the boys nodded. “I want to be on Rei-chan’s team!” Nagisa immediately called. The other boy had no say as the blond hooked his arm around his.

“Makoto…” Haruka looked at the taller boy.

The brown haired male nodded. “Haruka and I will be a team.”

Rin stood there for a moment before frowning. “What about me?!”

Gou hid her laugh behind her hand as her brother looked ready to throw a fit. She watched as pout formed on his face and he crossed his arms. He looked angry and a bit disappointed. He hadn’t realized the odd number they had had before until now. She smiled fondly down at him before placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll be on your team, Rin.” Looking up at her, a smile formed on his face.

“Okay!” A triumphant look passed on the younger boy’s face.

The four other stared at them. “Isn’t Gou-chan too tall?” Nagisa questioned.

“So, she’s my partner since I don’t have one,” Rin retorted.

“I guess I can be limited to only throwing one water balloon.” She offered. They all seemed fine with that.

She sighed and said, “Okay, you have ten seconds to find a place to collect a few water balloons and hide. Go!”

Immediately, they all ran for the balloons. Gou followed Rin as he ran off to a cluster of trees. Rin hide behind a tree and peeked out. All the other boys had disappeared. Only the buckets full of water balloons were still in the same place. The buckets were put in the open as it made it harder to reach without being spotted and potentially hit.

“We should stick to hiding and attacking. Makoto gets very competitive during these games. He won’t hesitate to hit one of us. Save your water balloon for later, nee-san,” Rin said.

Gou nodded as her brother looked around. She shook her head as she wondered why he was so deadly serious. It was supposed to be a fun game yet Rin seemed to treat it like life or death. Sometimes her brother was too serious about things.

She would just have to follow his lead to see where this game would go.

**——**

Gou was completely soaked. Somehow they had gone all out just throwing water balloons at each other. Rin and her had managed to take down Rei, but Nagisa had escaped. A relentless Makoto and a less enthusiastic Haruka had chased them around. The dark haired boy didn’t seem to mind when Rin nailed him in the face with a balloon. He actually looked like he was enjoying it.

The two found themselves blocked off by Nagisa on one side and Makoto on the other. Nagisa had thrown a water balloon at Gou, but she moved aside and instead it his Rin in the back. It was safe to say he was mad at loosing. Using her only water balloon, she nailed Makoto in the chest before getting hit in the leg by one from the blond.

Gou still couldn’t remember what had happened after as they had ended up throwing the balloons. Haruka, she had noticed, intentionally stood in front of balloons to get hit. He made no effort to avoid them or pretend he was at least trying. They had had a free for all and had used up all the balloons. They had to walk back to the house soaking wet.

The boys were drying off in the bathroom. Thankfully they had all brought another set of clothes to change into. Gou had already changed into a different outfit. She was in the living room looking through the movie selection. Rin had wanted to watch a movie once they were done getting dry.

“Rin, what do you want to watch?” she asked. Her brother was in the kitchen.

She sighed as she looked for something interesting. “Haruka wants something with water in it. Rei wants something beautiful. Nagisa says it should be about space while Makoto would like something happy. I want action in it.”

The maroon haired teen rolled her eyes. “There isn’t a movie that has all of that.”

She could hear the others coming down. “We should have popcorn!” She heard Nagisa say.

“I want mackerel,” Haruka said. Gou looked from the movie selection to find the boy standing behind her.

Rei pushed up his glasses. “Mackerel flavored popcorn doesn’t sound good to eat, Haruka-senpai.”

Gou made a face trying to imagine popcorn flavored like fish. “I don’t think we have any more mackerel, Haurka-sen…Haruka-san.”

He looked a bit dejected but nodded. Turning back to the movies, she grabbed a case and popped the movie in. After grabbing the popcorn and drinks, they all squished together on the couch to watch the film. Gou yawned as she wondered what time Makoto’s parents would come to pick them up.

**——**

Gou had fallen asleep during the film when her mother returned home. Apparently they all had fallen asleep. It seemed that the water balloon making and the fight had exhausted them more than they had thought. Gou hadn’t woken up when Makoto’s parents came to pick up the four kids. The kids had been carried to the car while Rin had been carried to his room. Her mother had put a blanket over the younger girl as she slept peacefully on the couch.

Gou was woken up by voices. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up, she blinked as she realized everything was dark. The only light on came from the kitchen. She could smell food and hear the hushed voices. Stretching and yawning, she made her way to the kitchen.

“You look tired, dear,” her mother said.

Gou froze near the door when she heard the other voice. “I’m always tired, but at least we made a good haul.”

She had thought she had forgotten that voice. She had definitely forgotten the face. She slowly made her way into the kitchen. The man had her back to her as he stood up. Dark hair was mussed from mostly like running his finger through it. Black overalls were dirty and hung on the man’s frame.

“P-papa?” she whispered.

The man slowly turned around and she met eyes the same exact color as both her and her brother.

**_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_ **

Gou shot out of bed suddenly. She looked around frantically before realizing it was her alarm going off. Shutting it off she rubbed her eyes wondering what it was she was dreaming about. For some reason she felt sad; she felt tears pricking the side of her eyes. Clenching her fists against her covers, she started recalling the dream.

It had been happy until the end. Even in her dreams she couldn’t remember her father’s face. She couldn’t recall if the voice in her dream was truly her father’s or not. She only knew for sure that both her and her brother were given her father’s eyes.

“…” She sagged against her pillow. Looking at the clock, it was only five in the morning. She didn’t have school today yet her alarm had gone off.

Getting out of bed, she dressed herself and made her way down the hall. Peeking into her mother’s room, she saw that the older woman was still sleeping. Then she made her way to her brother’s room. Looking inside, the room was bare just like it was supposed to be. There were no posters, toys, or clothes thrown around the room. Her brother was at Samezuka Academy like he should be.

She quietly went down stairs and slipped on her jacket. Gou went out and closed the door before walking down the street heading for the train station.

**——**

She hadn’t been to the cemetery in a while. It wasn’t a place she liked to go. She knew her brother would sometimes come here to see their father’s grave. Cemeteries were a constant reminder that the people you love would leave eventually. There was no stopping the cycle of life and death.

She came here because of the dream she had had bothered her for some reason. The dream had been happy, as she had been carefree. Then it changed at the end as if to tell her not to forget that with all that happiness there was great sadness.

Perhaps the dream was a reminder to remember him. She hadn’t dreamed of him even when he died. It was strange to be dreaming of him now. It felt like forever since she had properly thought of her father. The dream with him in it had been so clear, so sharp. It was as if she had never truly forgotten.

Her hand rested on the stone marker. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come out, papa. I miss you…I’ve forgotten so much about you. The way you smell, the way you sound, and the way you smile.”

She closed her eyes as she recalled the dream with clarity. Her eyes flew open as she realized that she did remember something. Her father’s smile was just like Rin’s. She had seen it when he turned to look at her. It was slightly crooked but full of love. It reached those eyes of his.

Tears fell down her face as she smiled at the stone marker. “I remember your smile. I thought I had forgotten, but it was just buried deep under my memories. I’ll always remember it now.”

She turned away from the grave and looked up. The sky was slowly getting brighter. People would be waking up soon. The dream, she had decided, was a way to remind of her father and how happy she was even when he wasn’t around all the time. When he was, it was like the world was right.

Gou knew she would hold those few memories in her heart. Even if she felt like she had forgotten them, they remained deep within her. She would never truly forget.

**The End**


End file.
